momagri, movement for a world agricultural organization, is a think tank chaired by Christian Pèes.It brings together, managers from the agricultural world and important people from external perspectives, such as health, development, strategy and defense. Its objective is to promote regulationof agricultural markets by creating new evaluation tools, such as economic models and indicators,and by drawing up proposals for an agricultural and international food policy.

Official Development Assistance (ODA):
“Is France giving up1 ?”

April 21, 2014

On April 8, the OECD released the 2013 worldwide data regarding the Official Development Assistance (ODA). Among the worst performers, we notice France, whose ODA dropped sharply by close to 10 percent in 2013, notably due to less lending and debt white-offs. The year 2014 might see a confirmation of the trend under the budget austerity package adopted by the government.

The news hit the proponents of a strengthened French development policy, when the French Treasury Department was announcing a slight decline of the development budget at 0.46 percent of Gross National Income (GNI) in 2013, against 0.47 percent in 2012. It eventually dropped to 0.41 percent in 2013, according to the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) that published a total budget of €8.44 billion.

This shift, compared to the commitment to allocate 0.7 percent of its GNI to development assistance, places France in the fifth place among donors in real terms, behind Japan.

As the ultimate paradox, the French lowered budget for development assistance is totally out of step with the current global trend: In 2013, the donor nations allotted $134.8 billion (€97.67 billion), an increase of 6.1 percent over 2012, following two consecutive years of decline.

We must remember that in 1960 France was allocating 1.35 percent of its GDP to development aid, and that Sweden, Norway and Luxembourg have already reached the goal of 0.7 percent.

Most importantly, no country in the world has experienced stable and sustained economic growth without the prior development of its agriculture. Agriculture is the main source of income for over 40 percent of the world population. Yet, 70 percent of the poor and under-nourished people live in rural areas and are mostly farmers. Yet, agriculture and food only account for a small share in Official Development Assistance (ODA). As an example, the share earmarked for agriculture and food security in France’s ODA budget has been declining since 2007.

Lastly, agriculture represents the strategic variable that must be returned to the heart of development issues. To that end, we must maintain and develop national, regional and global agricultural policies by directing their primary objectives towards ensuring the right to food. And at the same time, we must design regulations for global agricultural trade to protect livelihood farming, which is now competing with the most aggressive export-oriented farming.